Poll Reports

1 in 4 children age 4-17 never wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. Nearly 1 in 2 children from the lowest income families never wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. Helmet use in places that have child bicycle helmet laws is more than twice as high as helmet use in areas without such laws. Nearly 9 in 10 adults support helmet laws for children.

About one-quarter of parents know of a child with a life-threatening food allergy in their children's school or daycare. About three-quarters of parents who know of a food-allergic child say their children's school/daycare makes accommodations for children with food allergies.

Over one-half of adults believe alcopops promote underage drinking. Three-quarters of adults say underage drinking is a problem in their communities. 9 in 10 adults support alcohol warning labels for alcopops. 4 in 5 adults support banning alcopop ads from youth websites and magazines.

More than two-thirds of parents with private health insurance for their children are concerned about out-of-pocket costs. About two-thirds of parents are concerned about the costs of deductibles and premiums for private health insurance. One in five parents are concerned that private insurance does not cover their children's medicines.

Nearly 90% of children with dental insurance receive regular dental care. Only 58% of children with no dental insurance receive regular dental care. Nearly one-quarter of parents report "costs too much" as a big problem in getting dental care for their children.

56% of parents say that their children's primary care doctor never asks whether they have concerns about their children's mental health. 1 out of 4 parents have used specialty mental health services for their children. 1 out of 5 parents have children with a mental health diagnosis.

Nearly 1 in 10 parents of a high school athlete knows someone under 18 who has tried performance-enhancing drugs. 3 out of 4 parents support random testing of high school athletes for performance-enhancing drugs. Less than one-half of parents believe there should be individual penalties for high school athletes who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Only 11% of voters think they know a lot about stem cell research. About one-half of voters think embryonic stem cell research should be allowed. 72% of voters favor national over state laws for stem cell research.

80% of likely voters believe the problem of health insurance being too expensive is a top health problem for the government to address. In general, likely voters think Obama would be more effective at handling top health care problems such as coverage and costs. 55% of likely voters say that the candidate's position on children's health care issues will affect their vote.

39% of families with children age 6-13 have one or more overweight or obese children. Bullying is rated as the top health concern for children by parents of children age 6-13 who are either overweight or obese. 30% of parents with overweight or obese children age 6-13 do not set limits on TV, video or computer games.